Does it feel like every time you decide to grab inner peace you find you are in a place that is so dire, you unerringly know that you cannot continue on as you have? By the time most of us realize there is a real problem, the very air we are breathing is anxiety rich and spiking adrenalin levels are informing us, that we must change something! We feel a desperation of the mind, a desperation of the heart, and a desperation of the body. It’s in this dark place, where we feverishly try to self diagnose, to figure out what can be changed to help to ourselves. What can we do to stop the reoccurring mind loops of fear, anger, sadness, anxiety and discontent? And what are we going to use as our tool, in order to stop the destructive process?

The first time we try to incorporate the new action, (usually on the proverbial Monday morning), that’s when we realize we don’t know how to really do it, and we need a “how to” book, or a “7 Ways To” website, with a better detailed plan of action!

And therein lies the beginnnings of the downward spiral which leads to the eventual death of all our good intentions. For not only must we figure out something new to do to change our old patterns, but we must also do it consistently. And Consistency is the name of the graveyard, where most all our good intentions rest in peace.

Many a cooking show has proven this to be true, for if we see someone else cooking healthy organic meals, we feel that we ourselves have cooked the meal and have absorbed all its nutrients. Then we are ok with ordering a pizza and chicken wings for dinner. Knowing that for right now, we are just collecting information on how to move into a healthier path. Our intentions are good. But we have yet to incorporate action.

This is the place many Christians linger when faced with the concept of daily prayer. Everyday, they know their intention is good, they intend to pray, and therefore it’s as good as done. No. Not. Really. If intentions were righteous, there would be no need for the Bible, with all of its many encouragements, parables, teachings and examples about why we should do the right thing, and do it for the right reason! No, it’s our actions that show God, our obedience. True repentance brings about actions of change. The whole concept of repentance is, that we no longer do the offensive action. When we fall, the getting back up, and moving forward. Not purposely taking steps backward, so that we can fall in that same foothold for millennia.

So here are a few ways that I have found through the years, that have helped me incorporate prayer into my daily life. Ways to pray in spite of my emotions and/or physical, mental or spiritual tiredness. Ways in which I can push past everything standing in my way and pray daily.

1. Pray the Word. This is a powerful way to speak the word of God into your own life. Many times I have opened the book of Psalms or other passages in the Bible and prayed them for my family, our church, others, or myself. This is especially good to use as well, when you are tired and don’t trust your mind, not to tiredly move on from one worrisome prayer to the next. Praying the word can form faith filled thought processes during prayer and provide needed encouragement. The word of God is powerful and it brings forth faith and strength.

2. Write out a prayer about something that is emotionally draining to pray about because it involves feelings of hurt, failure, or hopelessness. This is an essential for me. When praying consistently for something in which the mere thought, brings pain, hurt or any other emotion, I have found, my natural inclination is to pray through one day, concerning the issue, and then not pray about it for several days after, because I have neither the strength nor the emotional fortitude to go through all the emotion, involved in praying that prayer again. Yet it is an important issue to me, and needs to be prayed daily!! I can certainly find time to worry about it daily!! About 14 years ago I hooked on to a book entitled, “The Power of a Praying Woman”, it was the first edition of this book (I’ve never read it all the way through just the prayers.). What this book taught me was how to write out a prayer that I could pray, about a situation, where deep emotions were attached to it. But by surrounding “the situation” with scripture, I could pray the prayer everyday without including any of the hurt and negative energy surrounding it. So that, the very act of praying the prayer itself, became an encouragement to me. And strengthened my faith every time I prayed it. (I will give you an example of a prayer I have written below, fill free to use it.:)

3. Make a prayer journal. This journal can help by putting on paper, your feelings and thoughts concerning issues you are praying about. This alone, can help you discern new ways to address the problem in prayer. It also helps you remember the many things you are praying about, by listing them. And as you pray for them, you can also record when God gives you insight into the situation, or a scripture concerning the matter. And then you can write and record the testimony of how the prayer was answered!! This is a beautiful way to remember the way God answers prayer, and it is good, to incorporate this method into your prayer life no matter what other things you do.

4. Incorporate a devotional book to help you remember things you can pray about.

Needless to say there are times we need nothing to help us pray! We are desperate, knowing we need him. It’s in these times when words and thoughts flow freely as we talk to him concerning things in our heart, our love, our gratitude, and we speak to him of the beauty he alone brings into our lives.

These are just a few ways in which you can begin to talk daily to God. No vibrato needed. Just stop what you are doing, and communicate with him. We think if we are busy, then God understands, that we had good intentions. Fact is, we have fallen for the oldest trick in the book of “Enemy Lies”. Because it is no secret to God or ourselves, that we find the time to do, the things we want to do… Make progress today in your life. Just do it:)!!!

Prayer against enemy warfare and being overtaken in our faults. – Melody Eliseo

I declare this day that I am delivered from the hand of my enemy; he will not pull me down into a pit of destruction. For your word says, “that whatever I bind on earth, will be bound in heaven”(Matthew 18:18). Today I am set free from every thought process, every besetting sin, every bad memory, every negative emotion from my past that would try to hold me back from moving forward into my future with authority, strength and divine purpose. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds. Casting down every imagination, and high thing, that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity, every thought to the obedience of Christ”(2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

Today, I bind myself to you. I pray that I have the mind of Christ, that my mind is bound to your mind, that my emotions are bound to your emotions. I bind myself to truth, to purity of thought and heart, to your word, to daily prayer, to seeking your face, and to your divine purpose for my life. Through this I “bring captive every thought to the obedience of Christ”. Lord, your word also declares, “ that whatever I loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven” (Matthew 18:18).

Today according to your word “I loose the bands from off my neck”(Isaiah 52:2). “ I loose myself from the bands of wickedness”(Isaiah 52:8), in Jesus name, I am released from every band, that secretly holds me in invisible shackles, whether it be bad decisions, wrong choices that I’ve made, hurts that have been done to me, or that I have done to others. Lord I come against anything else, that keeps me bound and shackled to anger, fear, discouragement, hurt, depression and oppression. I pray for the ability to forgive and the ability to forget, so that I can move forward and become whole, as you have promised those who follow you in your word.

Lord your word declares that we are to put on the “whole armor of God, that we may be able to withstand” enemy attack, and “carrying the shield of faith, to quench the flaming darts of the wicked one” along with “the sword of the spirit which is the word of God, praying always.” (Ephesians 6:15-16).
And even when “I lay down at night you said, I don’t have to be afraid, and I will have no fear of sudden disaster, nor will I fear the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be by my side, and keep my foot from being snared” (Proverbs 3:24-26). I claim deliverance this day. I am set free, made whole, through the power of the name of Jesus. Today I will walk forward in victory and with purpose.